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The Awakening Age by Ben Okri: Summary & Analysis | Questions & Answers | Class 12 English
The Awakening Age by Ben Okri
Table of Contents
ABOUT THE POET
Name: Ben Okri
Born: 15 March 1959 (age 62) Minna, Nigeria
Nationality: Nigerian
Occupation: Writer
Genre: Fiction, essays, poetry
Literary movement: Postmodernism, Postcolonialism
Notable works:
The Famished Road (1991)
A Way of Being Free (1997)
Starbook (2007)
A Time for New Dreams (2011)
Notable awards:
Man Booker Prize 1991
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NIGERIAN CIVIL WAR
The Nigerian Civil War started in 1967 and lasted for three years. It was a quite destructive and bloody war between the Government of Nigeria (North) and the so-called independent Biafra (South). The main reason behind that war was ethno-religious violence and the anti-Igbo movement in Nigeria. People suffered a lot when the Igbo tried to separate from Nigeria to form the independent Republic of Biafra. After enduring three years of bloody battles, the Igbo were forced to surrender in 1970, ending the war. Biafrans suffered a severe famine due to the effects of war. Nearly a million people died of starvation.
ABOUT POEM
The Awakening Age by Ben Okri
This poem, 'The Awakening Age' was composed by Nigerian poet Ben Okri. In this poem, the poet has portrayed the hardships of the African people of southern and northern Nigeria. In addition, he makes a call for unity, peace, and solidarity among human beings from different parts of the world.
This poem has seven different stanzas that contain fourteen lines. Every stanza consists of two lines (couplets). The rhyme scheme of the poem is AA BB CC.
The speaker of the poem is the poet himself, who is making his wishes for all the Nigerian people who have experienced a lot of hardships during the time of the civil war. Here in this poem, we find the speaker quite hopeful about the lives of the people in a new world of the awakening age.
This poem is about a new age after the end of the devastating civil war in Nigeria. The poet refers to it as the awakening age that appeared with immense joy and hope for the Nigerian people. That particular outbreak of civil peace in Nigeria brought hope of survival for people in a new world of the awakening age.
In this poem, the poet Ben Okri seems quite hopeful about the bright future of human beings in the new world and wishes for their lives in different parts of the world along with unity, peace, and solidarity.
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POEMS IMPORTANT QUESTIONS' SOLUTION PACK
EXPLANATION
The Awakening Age by Ben Okri
O ye who travel the meridian line,
May the vision of a new world within you shine.
The speaker wishes African inhabitants may have the vision of a new world—a world of hope, prosperity, unity, truth, wisdom, and creativity. He wishes that all Nigerians who travel along the meridian line, i.e., who have been divided into fragmentations of the South and the North due to the devastating civil war, may have the shining vision of a new peaceful world within them after the outbreak of civil peace in the nation. These people have travelled a long path of hunger, poverty, unemployment, and other aspects of their lives during their survival in fragmentation.
May eyes that have lived with poverty's rage,
See-through to the glory of the awakening age.
The speaker in the second stanza also wishes for them to experience the glory of the awakening age. According to him, those Nigerian eyes who had seen extreme poverty and famine may get the chance to see fine conditions through the glory of the awakening age (the age of African people's recognition, realisation, or coming into awareness of their condition and the beginning of their new world). This is the age of enlightenment, where there is peace, prosperity, liberation, joy, unity, and harmony among people.
For we are all richly linked in hope,
Woven in history, like a mountain rope
In the third stanza, the speaker talks about hope and its connection with the Nigerian people. According to him, Nigerians are quite hopeful people. All Nigerians are richly linked in hopes. Their hopes were woven into history, i.e., at a critical, fragmented time. Their hopes are still quite strong, like the mountain rope that can unite all the Nigerians into one in their new peaceful world. According to him, hope is the one among Nigerians that can connect them like a mountain rope.
Together we can ascend to a new height,
Guided by our heart's clearest light.
In the fourth stanza, he talks about the unity of the Nigerian people. According to him, Nigerians' unity can lead them towards a height of perfection and prosperity. He suggests to all the Nigerians, including himself, that if we are united, we can reach a new height. We must be united to thrive in our lives. If we are guided by our heart's clearest light (positivity), we can reach this height. We must be away from the concepts of rage, hatred, and discrimination. Being united, we can ascend towards prosperity.
When perceptions are changed there's much to gain,
A flowering of truth instead of pain.
In the fifth stanza, he talks about the necessity of changing perceptions of truth for all. According to him, we must be away from the narrow perception at first. This will be the perfect way to gain a lot. If we are broad in our perception, we can get a flowering of truth instead of pain. Our lives will move on the path of truth without any trouble. Thus, the way of perceiving things must be changed.
There's more to a people than their poverty;
There's their work, wisdom, and creativity.
In the sixth stanza, he talks about hopeful conditions in Nigerians' lives. In this condition, people will be in a fine state, away from their poverty range. They will have prosperity, jobs, wisdom, and creativity. They will get more in this condition. This is the condition that is a blend of vision of the new world, realisation, hope, positivity, changed perception, etc.
Along the line may our lives rhyme,
To make a loving harvest of space and time
In the final stanza, he talks about the joyous lives of all in different places, no matter the south or the north. According to him, the lives of the people will be joyous. They will have peace and harmony. The outcome will be so loving in space and time. People's lives in the new world will be so pleasant and full of rhymes.
GLOSSARY
meridian line (n.): any imaginary circle round the earth that passes through both the North and South Poles
rage (n.): violent anger
harvest (n.): the act of cutting and gathering grain and other food crops
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS OF THE AWAKENING AGE BY BEN OKRI
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